Baby Place Space for 6-18 Months: Inspired by Montessori and Reggio

Create a simple yet stimulating baby play area using open-ended toys made from natural materials and incorporating some philosophies from Montessori and Reggio thinking.

When baby Bean was newborn we put together a baby play space based on Reggio ideas of simplicity, light and real materials, and that included no plastic toys or electronic gizmos. Now that she is sitting up, crawling and pulling up to stand already (please slow down baby girl!) her play space has moved to a safe area on the floor with a few new additions, and both she and her sisters love playing in it.

In a little corner of the room we laid a lambskin rug (which keeps baby warm in winter and cool in summer) and a fewtreasure baskets and open-ended toys within easy reach. Reggio philosophies talk highly of including plenty of mirrors and natural light, so we used some acrylic mirror tiles behind some toys and a large stand up mirror which can be moved and repositioned.

Montessori style number bead stacker [ELC but can’t find it now. This is similarand much nicer]

basket of sturdy, textured and lift-the-flap board books [Amazon]

These are pretty much the only toys that she has now, after I cleared out 4 large boxes worth of plastic, brightly coloured, electronic nonsense a few weeks back! She is very happy with these items and plays mainly with real objects anyway, hence reiterating the good common sense behind the heuristic play argument. You can read more about that in my first post about treasure baskets here.

* Edited to add: we are not at all anti plastic toys or materials! We have plenty in our house but I wanted to start with the baby toys that really served only one function and were not promoting much thinking or curiosity. They were easy to donate to others. The rest of the clutter is not so simple to sort and shift! We absolutely adore Playmobil, lego and duplo and of course they are all made from plastic, so the emphasis was more on the type of toy, rather than what it was made from.

The girls have really been enjoying playing here together in this new space and the lambskin rug has become a favourite spot for reading together. I look forward to seeing how the space evolves over the next few months!

Comments

Well done for sorting out, and getting rid of the Plastique and the Bleepy!I visited a friend yesterday whose 12-month-old was obsessed with some large paint tins they had stored in a corner of the kitchen. Because they were heavy with paint they were stable, irresistible due to the sturdy plastic handles, and the lids(impossible to remove)made them the perfect drum-kit. It was so lovely to see him stay put for a bit and play so brilliantly with them. LOVE how the best toys often come from the most unexpected things!

Your play space looks great. We have such a small room it’s so hard to keep things organised… especially now that BB has decided to start ‘helping; to put things away! I don’t want to discourage him though. His absolute favourite things at the moment are all made from cardboard, he has a hug cardboard box which is his car and boat, he loves to fill it, he is also big time into a couple of long cardboard tubes that once held wrapping paper…

FabAnna I can’t wait to read the other areas you have coming up on your blog. My little girl is always sitting at her table with creative and writing resources but need some inspiration so really looking forward to your upcoming posts 🙂

I recently cleared out our kitchen closet & made a kitchen playspace for my 2 year old. We have a wood play kitchen & a small storage unit. It’s very simple but ever since I did it, my daughter has been playing in it constantly. Amazing how simplicity changes everything!

Thanks Bronwen, I’m leaving the area as it is for as long as she’s interested, but will update and rotate the items in her treasure baskets that are within the area. I may swap some toys too in the future

18month olds?! No no no, push the baby aside and LET ME PLAY! That looks so lovely and inviting! And aren’t mirrors just the best baby play thing. Beautiful post, you have such wonderful ideas and inspirations.

I am so glad I found this post! My little boy is almost 6 months old and I have been trying to decide what to buy him for Christmas and how to avoid all the plastic. I have just ordered some of the tree blocks and the rainbow stacker and hope to set up a play area for him similar to yours! So thank you so much for the inspiration! I will be donating all the plastic toys left over from my older daughter to a local charity 🙂

Love this site! Some people think they need to buy plastic toys/noisy toys for their children but learning opportunities from them are very limited were as activities like this gives endless learning opportunities for children. They are so cheap to do but often they are more engaging. Plastic toys are so boring and most play repetitive tunes.Keep up the great work!

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I sort of did things like this without even realising that this is what I had done… thanks for the post, really enjoyed looking through it.
Could you post some play areas for kids that are past 18 months too, I have a 14 month old and wanting to see what would be appropriate for older kids, thanks!

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Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.